Wayland Select Board sends rival finance committee proposals to town meeting

WAYLAND — February 27, 2023 — Wayland Select Board advances two rival Finance Committee appointment plans to May 1 town meeting. The board voted 4-1 to support its own Article CC, which would replace Select Board appointment with a three-member committee of the moderator, Select Board chair and Finance Committee chair, and voted 5-0 to insert but 2-3 against endorsing the moderator's competing version, which would seat a former FinCom member instead. Vice Chair Adam Gutbezahl called the moderator's plan "a poison pill" for leaving the third seat to unilateral appointment; member Dave Watkins, the lone "no" on CC, warned it would change "the dynamic" between the chair and members. The board also set town meeting for 6:45 p.m. May 1 at the high school field house, reaffirmed support for a remote-participation home-rule petition, set aside $500,000 from Town Center gift funds for Council on Aging community center overruns, and allocated $100,000 for a town-wide equity audit. Chair Cherry Karlson read aloud Finance Committee member Abner Bruno's resignation letter citing "micro/over incidences of racism and discrimination." Town Manager Michael McCall attended his first meeting.